Column: Secure in decision, Brett Bafaro embracing role at Oregon

About this time a year ago, Brett Bafaro was facing one of the most important decisions of his young life. Was it going to be football or baseball?

Now, with a year gone, Bafaro said choosing football and the Oregon Ducks was the right one – even if there have been some bumps in the road along the way. I caught up with Liberty’s former two-sport star this week as he prepares for Oregon’s spring game Saturday at Autzen Stadium. And like any kid who is nearing the end of his first year away from home at college, Bafaro said he has experienced his fair share of challenges.

He said coming out of high school, where he was the Northwest Oregon Conference defensive player of the year as a linebacker, he felt like he was ready for the differences between high school and elite Division I football. But saying it and actually doing it are two different things.

“I think I wasn’t quite ready for that last year,” Bafaro said of his first year spent redshirting with the Ducks.

He also said being away from home in a new city was a “huge transition.” But as the football season progressed, the more Bafaro learned. He said the challenges of staying motivated when he knew he would never see the field as a redshirt became easier to handle. And toward the end of the season, he embraced going up against in practices the most talked about and fast-paced offense in the country as a member of the scout defense.

“You want to try to make them look bad,” Bafaro said. “And when you’re able to do that it was a lot of fun.”

Now Bafaro, listed at 6-foot-2, 225 pounds, has been through an entire season. And heading into spring practices, he said he has an entirely new outlook.

“Things are starting to look a lot better for me, personally,” he said. “I think it’s just coming back around with experience. I’m a little bit more mature than I was last year, those are two of the main things that I think really helps.”

He said he knows just what is expected from him in Oregon’s famously high-paced practice style. He’s deferred to veteran players when learning how to go about things the right way, from getting treatment to studying film.

“I feel like this year I’m a little bit more ready to go,” he said.

And even though Bafaro said the choice he didn’t make – the one to play baseball – did enter his thoughts every now and then in the beginning, he said “that ship has probably sailed.”

Because a year ago, Bafaro was in the midst of a first-team all-NWOC season as a Liberty outfielder. After his graduation, he conducted workouts with several Major League teams to see where he stood in relation to his professional prospects.

He said at the time that he likely would not have been a high enough draft pick to forgo college and playing football.

“Looking back, I couldn’t have made a better decision,” he said. “In the beginning, I wasn’t quite sure. But now that I’m down here and everything is kind of settled, I realize there isn’t a better place for me. ... One-hundred percent of my focus is on football.”

That reconciliation will surely help Bafaro as he embarks on his first season of eligibility. And he is taking an even-keeled approach – a more mature approach. He said he’s not worried about playing time or depth charts or what position he’s at.

“If I spend a year looking at next year and hoping that I’mgoing to start, I’ll lose track and of where I am now,” he said. “So I just kind of focus on the right now and what I can do now and not worry about what’s going on later because everything will fall into place.”

He’s not worried about how the high-profile departure of former head coach Chip Kelly and the ascension of offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich to that position will affect him. He actually said the transition has been virtually seamless, surely aided by the stability of longtime defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti.

And Bafaro said he’s enjoying his classes and the campus, with the help from the friendships forged with his new teammates. All in all, it’s been a momentous year for Bafaro, even if it hasn’t shown up in the stat sheets.

“I just want to continue to learn things every day,” he said.

Note: Bafaro played at linebacker in the second half of Saturday's spring scrimmage, and finished with three tackles.